[doctorz1026]

I purchased the same set of headlight covers two years ago and ran into the same paint "matching" problem. If the paint does not match perfectly in ALL lighting conditions, it looks like a cheap garnish to your fried eggs. It's embarrassing! I also had a door panel to paint. So I spent about 3 months of trial and error before I discovered the secret to a perfect paint job.

First, I ordered color-matched paint from AutomotiveTouchup in a convenient spray can - it was close but did not look like the same color. Then I went to the Sherwin Williams Automotive Finishes store that supplies many paint shops in town. I got a paint that matched looking straight-on but was much darker when looking from the side. Then I asked the dealer what they use - they use a paint shop in town that uses Sherwin Williams. I went to a number of auto paint shops and learned that "color matching" involves "blending" the new paint into the old across a body panel. When done right, you don't notice the difference - unless you're looking for it.

Finally - UREKA! I found a small paint shop that really knows what they're talking about. Metallic paint (like most Porsche colors) has two characteristics called flip and flop. Flip is the color you see when looking straight-on, perpendicular, or 90 degrees to the surface. Flop is the color you see when looking obliquely, or about 30 degrees to the surface. So with thousands of choices for flip and thousands more for flop, it's quite impossible to mix a "matching" color from those hundred or so pigments that they select from to squirt into a neutral base. So what's a Porschephile to do?

You need to get paint from the same manufacturer that Porsche GMBH uses. And that manufacturer is the Glasurit division of BASF (glasurit.com). Porsche has been using (and still does) Glasurit paint for as far back as I could research - possibly to the 50's. It's the brand Porsche Classic uses. When you get paint mixed with Glasuit pigments, you get the exact same color as Porsche used when manufacturing your car - both flip and flop. I painted a door panel and there was no "blending" required. The door panel and the fender next to it look identical in color from all angles.

So where to get Glasurit paint? I was lucky to find a local distributor - English Color and Supply (englishcolor.com) named for founder Bob English. They have branches in 12 states and may provide mail order. At my request they pre-thinned the paint for the local conditions so I could load-and-spray. BTW, they said there is no need to get Glasurit clear coat. Any high quality (but less expensive) clear coat will do.

Now that you have the paint, what do you do? The easiest thing would be to take it to your local paint shop and have them do the job. But I did it myself using a Harbor Freight spray gun which worked quite well. I was fortunate that English Color knew a guy who paints restoration Porsches who gave me some tips. I used one light color coat, waited 5 minutes, then one finish coat. I then mixed the 2-part clear coat, applied one light coat, waited 15 minutes, then applied the finish coat fairly thick. It can be polished after 12 hours. One very important tip that the expert gave me is NOT to apply a "dust coat". Many web sites say that metallic paints look much better when you apply a light dusting of paint as the final coat. This is not recommended for Glasurit paint.

So now that you know "the secret", go forth and conquer! And enjoy having your 996 mistaken for a 997 without people saying "What did you put on top of the headlights?"